The Chickenshit Club

Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives

"Why were no bankers put in prison after the financial crisis of 2008? Why do CEOs seem to commit wrongdoing with impunity? The problem goes beyond banks deemed Too Big to Fail to almost every large corporation in America--to pharmaceutical companies and auto manufacturers and beyond. [This book]--an inside reference to prosecutors too scared of failure and too daunted by legal impediments to do their jobs--explains why"--Amazon.com.

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Pulitzer prize winning journalist Jesse Eisinger investigates the seemingly bland world of white collar/corporate crime, which the average person has become far more aware of since the financial crisis and Enron. The results-these guys (and it is almost always guys) are awful and rarely get punished-won't surprise anyone, but it's exhaustively researched and written in a way that is balanced, but also designed to provoke justifiable anger. The title comes from a speech that James Comey (yup, that James Comey) gave. For further reading there's "The Big Short," "Too Big to Fail," and "End This Depression Now."

The first thing one will notice about Jesse Eisinger’s enlightening book, “The Chickenshit Club: Why the Justice Department Fails to Prosecute Executives” is, of course, the vulgarity in the title. I would hope that potential readers would not be put off by this. “The Club” is a serious look inside the legal profession and why, after the economy cratered in 2008, the executives of the financial institutions that caused the crisis were not prosecuted and sent to jail. The title of the book refers to prosecutors who do not have the courage to take on cases that are not slam dunk victories. Unfortunately, too many corporations and executives are going unpunished for criminal behavior because government prosecutors are afraid to take on cases they might not win. Then, there are prosecutors that will not try a case because they are afraid that they will win and cause the company to fail, the “too big to fail” argument. I do see the merit in not taking on an unwinnable case. Why waste the time and money? But, what about doing what is right? What about some level of deterrence against future wrongdoing? Why weren’t the architects of the Great Recession put on trial? Oh, and another thing, how about we stop the unseemly practice of filling high government positions with business executives, then allowing those former executives to make decisions affecting the businesses from which they came? The whole shameful affair just reeks of chicken- . . . ah, you get the idea.

This was a very informative book in explaining why there has been so little progress made in prosecuting individuals or corporations for wrongdoing in the financial crises. The justice department is not supposed to be politicized, but the rules and direction of top leaders is very much affected by politics from both parties. Also, the influence of money and power on our judicial system has become more evident in recent years. The book makes it very clear that there is a problem with how our judicial system has not worked for all levels of society.

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[Update: This AM - - 7/20/17 - - on Dave Ross Fake News Show {KIRO} he interviewed the author, Eisenger, who said that nobody sent Eric Holder an email telling him not to prosecute the bankers - - completely ignoring that WikiLeaked email to Obama, directing him to appoint Covington & Burling's Eric Holder to be his attorney general! Of course, Dave Ross knows nothing of such things . . . .]
This book is completely bogus - - no other way to put it. The author isn't just spinning, the author has spun to infinity and beyond! [The author attempts to establish bogus points as to why the DoJ never prosecuted, ignoring major points of Citigroup directing President Obama to appoint Covington & Burling's Eric Holder to be his attorney general as it was Covington & Burling, for the bankers including Citigroup/Citibank, who created MERS and MERSCorp to enable a global economic meltdown and massive wealth transfer.]
The problem is simple: everything the bankers did was illegal. They illegally circumvented contract law, illegally violated various property laws, real estate laws, tax laws as REMIC status was continuously invalidated, and even their PSAs, or Pooling Securitization Agreements, were invalidated as they didn't follow the contractual rules written, thereby invalidating all the contracts and acted illegal in even that regard!
Again, EVERYTHING the bankers, mortgage lenders and fraudclosers of those fraudclosures was illegal.
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Would recommend serious perusing of the following:
Chain of Title, by David Dayen
The Case for the Corporate Death Penalty, by Mary Kreiner Ramirez
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***And this, Mr. Former FBI director, Comey, is what intel professionals and IT professionals call your Pure Crapola Club and it's predictable outcomes:
https://www.wired.com/2016/02/hack-brief-fbi-and-dhs-are-targets-in-employee-info-hack/
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/08/politics/hackers-fbi-employee-info/index.html
http://fortune.com/2016/02/09/fbi-dhs-info-hack/